Our Political Slackers

Nick Brown says he’s going to root out slacker MPs, that “five per cent” who don’t vote, sit on standing committees or select committee and basically do bugger all. But even though there is a hard core of truly shockingly lazy MPs, the problem goes much, much wider.

A combination of generous holidays and reformed hours means that many MPs now have what is effectively a three day week (tho in some cases it is a two-and-a-half day week). This is Westminster’s dirty little secret that no one here wants to talk about. Many arrive on a Monday evening and go home on Thursday lunchtime. But because there is no means of “clocking in” and “clocking out”, the public are completely unaware of just how little time MPs spend in the Commons… “Click here to read the full article.

It’s no different at a local level, you just have to look at the attendance figures for the Bolsover District Councillors. The only councillor who has attended all their possible meetings is Alan Waring (Independent) from Shirebrook – he attended 38/38 meetings.

Our own Cllr Hilary Gilmour in her first year of office (2007/08) attended 29/40 council meetings. Missing over 25%. What kind of representation is that for Barlborough? Click here to view the figures.